"You know, when you see what happened, we can’t let this bother people, stop what we’re doing," Tuhabonye said. "We’ve got to keep going. And the best way to do it is to bring everybody together. And then the second thing is to be able to remember the people that died. Because it could have been one of us. And we’re so lucky, so blessed to be together and united with our family."

Pat Birch has run 26 marathons. He’s 20 minutes shy of qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

"You know, the tragedy in Boston and now in West, Texas – we want to do something to support that," Birch said. "This incident -- I’m not the only one -- but it has given me more incentive to try to qualify."

Laura Carpenter wiped tears from her eyes. She just came back from Boston, where she went to support a friend who ran the marathon.

"I’m just…It’s hard to put in words the feelings that we’re going through," Carpenter said. "I mean, traumatized is the best thing I can say. And it feels good to be around people that are supporting each other and are here not only for the running community but us as Americans."

Before the runners took off, they took 26 moments of silence, one for each mile of the marathon. Then listened to "Amazing Grace," played by Nathan Kwan from the Capitol City Highlanders.

Three miles later, runners and walkers met up at the parking lot again, long after the sun had set. In the darkness, all you could see was a sea of neon glow sticks around their necks.

Related Content

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M80DXI932OE Note: We're following Friday's breaking news — that one suspect is dead and that police are searching for the other — in a new post . Thursday's post: Throughout the day, we'll be updating with the latest news about the two explosions Monday near the finish line of the Boston Marathon . The blasts killed three people and injured about 180. We'll also be publishing related posts as the day continues. ( See this...

UPDATE 7:15pm: KUT News has spoken with William Greer, who says he is fine, after a pair of explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. He and his sighted guide, Peter Sagal, finished with a time of about 4 hours and 4 minutes. The explosions went off about 5 minutes later. Greer said, from his vantage point, it wasn't clear at first just what was happening, but when multiple emergency vehicles started speeding toward the sound of the explosions, it became clear that something serious had happened. UPDATE : Peter Sagal tells All Things Considered that he and William Greer are safe, following two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Sagal says the pair had just finished the marathon and were making their way through the finish chute when they heard two explosions in quick succession. Marathon staff then told them and other runners to leave the area as quick as possible. Original Story: Today, thousands will run in one of the country’s oldest and best-known road races: the Boston Marathon. Among them will be a 43 year-old Austinite named William Greer. And he'll have a special guest along with him that might be familiar to listeners to weekend public radio.